Cabin door reinforcement plate rivets

[Weefle]

I’m curious what other builders have done with regard to the pulled rivets in the cabin doors that are used to hold the reinforcement plates while they are epoxied in.

Are the rivets simply to hold the plate while the epoxy cures? Has anyone sanded the LP-4 rivets flush with the interior door surface for esthetics? It would seem that there would still be plenty of holding power with the epoxy and body of the rivets.

Not sure building up that whole area to hide the rivet heads would look that good either. I thought about using CS rivets but stuck with the plans ....hence this question.

Thanks

Keith

[Richard Connell]

Hi Keith.
I used CS4s and smoothed that whole area out and filled in my door pockets too.
Not flying yet by the doors have been installed with the struts for a year or so now and have had a fair bit of “use” with no side effects or signs of movement that I can detect.




Cheers

[Weefle]

That looks a lot cleaner than rivet heads sticking through.

Thanks

K

[rdamazio]

It's a good idea, but I'm curious if anyone has consulted Vans on this, I'm hesitant to modify something that's labeled *reinforcement* plate based only on intuition.

[Richard Connell]

Originally Posted by rdamazio

It's a good idea, but I'm curious if anyone has consulted Vans on this, I'm hesitant to modify something that's labeled *reinforcement* plate based only on intuition.

On the spectrum of TLAR changes I’ve seen made to RVs over the 20 odd years I’ve been around them, I’m confident this is pretty benign. It’s only there to transfer the opening strut loads. If you’re stressed out about no name CS4s v LP4s then stick a few extra in.

I’m sure Vans takes a much dimmer view of everyone grinding the entire gutter from the door frame to fit the McMaster door seal. There’s no question that weakens the entire cabin top. How much?
Who knows.
In my experience, Vans predictable (and sensible) response to changes like this is usually “we haven’t analysed this modification so can’t provide guidance”